Enzymes do not have any kind of side reaction during physicochemical hydrolysis, have low energy consumption due to their high catalytic activity, and does not have to be removed after processing. Accordingly, they widely are used in various industries.
Enzymes in the past have been mainly used for food production using glycolysis saccharifying starch, but recently, their range of use has expanded to being used for producing medicine, fine chemical products, and food, drugs and chemicals for special use. Specifically, food enzymes are being used in a variety of fields such as syrup production, alcohol fermentation such as beer, dairy, bread, fruit and vegetable juice production, crop-processing, food preservation, egg-processing, food lipid-processing, fish-processing, flavor production, animal feed production. Further, they are also being used as a detergent, with the trend increasing towards the use of enzyme as a dishwashing detergent, which has largely contributed to the growing market for using enzymes as a detergent. Recently, the use of the enzymes in the textile industry has also gradually increased. Accordingly, in the case of wool, a biocarbonsation process, which removes impurities existing in the fibers by using enzymes, is being developed, and the enzymes are also used in a polishing process, which removes naps on the textile, for improving clearness of dyeing, visibility of colors, feel of the surface, wrinkle resistance and softness. In the case of pulp, the enzymes are also used for removing impurities, and the enzymes also may be used in a deinking process, which removes ink when recycling printed papers. In the case of the leather industry, which is a representative industry for causing environmental pollution, a process for using the enzymes instead of strong acid during soaking, unhairing or defatting process, are being developed in order to solve the said problem. In addition, the enzymes are also used in various chemical industries such as amino acid industry, steroid conversion, antibiotic material production, peptide synthesis, ester conversion and synthesis, and organic chemistry. Furthermore, as therapeutic enzymes, digestive enzymes, anti-inflammatory enzymes, thrombolytic enzymes, anti-tumor enzymes, enzymes for the circulating system and the like are being developed, and clinical diagnosis field using enzymes are also being developed step by step. Particularly, in Korea, enzymes are often used because an enzyme hydrolysis method, which produces animal and vegetable protein hydrolysates through protein hydrolysis by directly adding enzymes to raw materials is used in order to prepare traditional natural flavoring substances.
On the other hand, under high pressure, a chemical reaction is stimulated toward the direction where volume is decreased, according to the LE Chartelier's principle. Thus, the reaction may be accelerated when the volume is decreased according to the increased pressure. Accordingly, for the purpose of accelerating the reaction using various enzymes described above, a high pressure process is used. Particularly, when conducting reactions for producing foods under the high pressure condition, it may affect the hydrogen bonds, thereby changing three dimensional structures of macro molecules, which will maintain the natural flavor, taste, color and nutritional ingredients, increase solubility and extraction rate, and also improve preservation. In addition, when using the high pressure process, high-quality foods may be produced so that functional characteristics are excellent and nutritional ingredients are preserved. Such a high pressure process is an eco-friendly economic process with low energy consumption. When using the high pressure process, there are advantages in that growth of microorganisms may be inhibited, the enzyme function is stimulated, the treatment process is simple, and addition of additive salt and alcohol may be excluded. For example, when producing extracts such as red ginseng extract, green tea extract, bamboo extract and adlay extract, if the high pressure enzyme reaction is used, the effect and physical properties of the extract may be changed.
However, generally under the high pressure condition, water penetrated into the tertiary structure of the enzyme may destruct the bonding force of the tertiary structure (e.g., hydrophobic bond), which will make it lose its enzyme activity making it difficult to use the enzymes under high pressure condition.